PUBLICATIONS ISA TODAY ISSUE ARTICLE
ISA TODAY | August 2020
Earning ISA’s Highest Credential
Published on Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Over the past decade, the tree care profession has experienced rapid growth and there is a significant amount of knowledge required to properly perform tree care at the highest level. As the tree care industry continues to grow, more and more professionals are looking for ways to improve their skills and set themselves apart from their peers. One of the many ways arborists further their professional development and set themselves apart is by earning credentials.
“Learning and studying should never stop,” said Monika Buczko, an ISA credential holder. “It is extremely important and crucial that we as arborists keep up with new research and information being discovered every day. Urban trees need our [tender love and care] as they are not in their natural environment.”
[Monika Buczko] Buczko (pictured left) earned the ISA Certified Arborist® credential in 2015, however, she said she wanted to expand her knowledge of tree care and earn the ISA Board Certified Master Arborist® (BCMA™) credential.
“Although [the ISA Certified Arborist® credential] is an excellent certification, I felt I didn’t have enough knowledge to be able to answer and address a lot of our clients’ questions and concerns,” she said. “I was looking to broaden my knowledge and education.”
Buczko became an ISA BCMA credential holder in February 2019.
As of 2020, there are more than 850 ISA BCMA credential holders throughout the world. Of those credential holders, the rate of recertification in 2020 was 91 percent.
“The ISA BCMA credential is widely recognized as the highest certification in the arboriculture profession,” said Sharon Lilly, author of the Arborists’ Certification Study Guide and the BCMA Guide for Exam Preparation. “It has significant value, prestige, and cachet within the profession and with employers, clients, and allied-industry professionals. Self-employed arborists and arboricultural consultants can capitalize on the credential in selling their knowledge, ability, and services.”
Lilly, an ISA BCMA credential holder, said she earned the credential to test her arboriculture knowledge.
“When the program launched, there was no question for me about earning this credential,” she said. “I had to do it for me. I wanted to measure my knowledge against the highest bar being established. I was successful in earning the ISA BCMA credential and I continue to be honored to maintain it.”
[Ricky Peterika] Current ISA Certified Arborists may earn this credential by meeting additional education and/or experience eligibility criteria and passing a comprehensive exam that tests their knowledge and skills of the science, managerial and practical application of arboriculture in areas such as risk assessment, safety, tree preservation, pruning, diagnostics, among other subject and practice areas within the tree care profession as identified through periodic job task analyses.
For many ISA BCMA credential holders, preparing for the exam requires many months of preparation.
Ricky Peterika (pictured right), who is also an ISA BCMA credential holder, said he wanted to earn the credential because he wanted to achieve the same level of professionalism as his peers.
“I purchased the reading material, but I mostly relied on my experience and training,” he said. “Studying for such a broad exam was difficult in the sections that I do not practice, like rigging. Also, I took the exam without studying as a practice exam.”
Denise Allen (pictured below), another ISA BCMA credential holder, said she spent several months preparing for the exam.
“My company bought me so many books from the list to study from,” she said. “I studied for about three months off and on, then booked the test for when I had two weeks off before the spring started.”
However, Allen said she didn’t have any reservations with earning the credential.
[Denise Allen] “It means a lot to me to have earned the credential,” she said. “Earning the credential has definitely helped me professionally. We do a lot of consulting and the more credentials the better.”
Buczko said she spent years preparing for the exam.
“I read and studied the entire book collection suggested by ISA and more to prepare for the exam,” she said. “I devoted about two hours a day, five days a week, and four years to studying. Although learning an extended amount of information about arboriculture and trees was exciting and motivating, I at times found it difficult to make time and stick to my studying routine. As a business owner and mother – learning came with a sacrifice.”
Although studying for the credential was a massive endeavor, Buczko said becoming an ISA BCMA has been rewarding.
“It’s very satisfying to hear our clients appreciate what I have learned,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting anything to change professionally, but about nine months after receiving my ISA BCMA credential I started receiving requests for tree appraisals, risk assessment and disease management. These clients found my information on ISA Trees Are Good [Find an Arborist] website.”
Although seeking the ISA BCMA credential seems like a daunting task, Buczko said she would encourage others to seek the credential as well.
“Earning [the ISA BCMA credential] is absolutely worth the time, devotion and hard work,” she said. “It not only gives a lot of broader knowledge than the ISA Certified Arborist credential, but it also opens doors to other business opportunities.”
To earn the ISA BCMA credential, candidates must pass an extensive scenario-based exam and abide by a Code of Ethics ensuring their quality of work.
Since earning her credential, Allen’s boss, Kylie Blouin, who is also an ISA credential holder, said she’s seen an a significant change in her work.
“I would definitely say that since earning [her] ISA BCMA credential [Allen] has an added confidence in [her] step,” Blouin said. [She] pushed [herself] to become better by [her] own drive and goals.”
Learn more about the ISA BCMA credential and the many other credential offered by ISA.
